TY - JOUR
T1 - Managing stakeholders for implementing innovations
T2 - The case of a flood protection project in Kenya
AU - Ninan, Johan
AU - Nelen, Louis
AU - Middelbeek, Lisanne
AU - Hardjosusono, Sunar Sutarto
AU - Kromwijk, Dominique
AU - Cheaz, Tristan
AU - Kalela, Lillian
PY - 2024
Y1 - 2024
N2 - Innovative projects, such as those for flood protection in developing countries, are urgent, stakeholder intense, and need to be carried out even in contexts where sufficient governance frameworks are not in place. This research seeks to understand how innovative projects can be implemented in weak institutional contexts by focusing on managing stakeholders in the single in-depth case study of the implementation of the SLAMDAM innovative project in the Isiolo County in Kenya. Following the analysis of 12 semi-structured interviews with 27 different stakeholders and 7 observations of stakeholder interactions, we answer the following questions: 1) what are the challenges during implementation of the innovation projects in weak-institutional contexts? 2) how are these challenges addressed through strategies? 3) how can we theorize the relationship between challenges and strategies in weak institutional contexts? The challenges include community resistance, information fragmentation, disjoined efforts, and governance inefficiency. Theoretically, we highlight how ad-hoc workarounds are operationalized in weak-institutional contexts and how they can lead to lasting changes by building governance frameworks in the long term. Practically, this research offer valuable guidance for practitioners involved in innovative projects, particularly in developing countries with weak institutional frameworks.
AB - Innovative projects, such as those for flood protection in developing countries, are urgent, stakeholder intense, and need to be carried out even in contexts where sufficient governance frameworks are not in place. This research seeks to understand how innovative projects can be implemented in weak institutional contexts by focusing on managing stakeholders in the single in-depth case study of the implementation of the SLAMDAM innovative project in the Isiolo County in Kenya. Following the analysis of 12 semi-structured interviews with 27 different stakeholders and 7 observations of stakeholder interactions, we answer the following questions: 1) what are the challenges during implementation of the innovation projects in weak-institutional contexts? 2) how are these challenges addressed through strategies? 3) how can we theorize the relationship between challenges and strategies in weak institutional contexts? The challenges include community resistance, information fragmentation, disjoined efforts, and governance inefficiency. Theoretically, we highlight how ad-hoc workarounds are operationalized in weak-institutional contexts and how they can lead to lasting changes by building governance frameworks in the long term. Practically, this research offer valuable guidance for practitioners involved in innovative projects, particularly in developing countries with weak institutional frameworks.
KW - Ad-hoc workarounds
KW - Flood prevention
KW - Implementing innovations
KW - Kenya
KW - Projects
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85203516396&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.plas.2024.100153
DO - 10.1016/j.plas.2024.100153
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85203516396
SN - 2666-7215
VL - 5
JO - Project Leadership and Society
JF - Project Leadership and Society
M1 - 100153
ER -